Significance of a Name
Disclaimer: I own nothing yet. In a few years, I might actually get around to getting a story of my own written, but it hasn't happened yet. I write this purely because I feel like it. Kudos if you get the (completely undisguised) references. If not, go find those stories: this story wouldn't have come about without them.
Warning(s): Mild crack, language. Vague spoilery reference to the timeskip, varying bits of storyline references along the way.
There have been many theories on why the current captain of the 11th Division, Zaraki Kenpachi, has not found the name of his Zanpakuto. Some say he's just too much of a brute to find out. Some speculate that he isn't really a Shinigami at all, but just a random spirit with colossal reiatsu. A few have suggested that he's either Yachiru's Zanpakuto, or she is his, though they were notably all getting drunk with Matsumoto-fukutaicho when they made the suggestion.
To his credit, following Aizen's initial departure from the Sereitei, Kenpachi really did try to contact his Zanpakuto spirit, but nothing happened, so he settled for beating the shit out of Ikkakku again. The other captains frowned upon that, but then remembered that it was 11th Division and therefore most things involved would be less than entirely appropriate, so they stopped caring.
Kenpachi first started thinking that he should really probably consider trying again after his battle with the Quinta Espada, Nnoitra. The stupid fuck (really, a bug power? Kenpachi would eat his goddamn sword if its spirit were that lame) was in the middle of the power ranking of the Espada, yet Kenpachi needed to use both hands to beat him, and that proved Yamamoto right, which was really annoying. Still, there wasn't any particular rush: it only took one hit from the stance to squish the Espada.
Kenpachi seriously questioned the meditation crap when facing the Cero Espada, Yammy, alongside Byakuya. Seriously, the lard had a lot of force, but only about as much patience as Ikkakku had hair. Yes, his powers were Hollow-based, but fuck, if there's any similarity at all between Arrancar and Shinigami, that would mean that either meditation wasn't necessary, or this talentless blubber-beast could settle himself down.
After Aizen's fall, Kenpachi trained against the other captains, hoping that somewhere in the frenzy he'd figure it out like everything else. It was in a battle against Yamamoto, who was trying to bring himself back up to his old level following the loss of his arm, that he had a very interesting thought. He didn't have a name at first, either, but that didn't stop him. His grin, full of a very different kind of confidence than normal, caught the captain-commander off-guard.
"Make your own damn name, Yūshō no tsubasa!"
Post-notes:
I used Google translate for the Zanpakuto name (which is supposed to be "Victory Blade") and have essentially no knowledge of Japanese, so pardon what is inevitably a butchering of the language. I came up with the idea a while ago, and couldn't help but chuckle at the idea of the man who named himself naming his sword, and then I just sort of came up with the sword's name on a whim. Spent all of 20 minutes typing this out, and that was partially due to doing a tiny bit of checking on whether I should capitalize certain things. Hope you enjoyed this little bit of crack.